BioSummit – conference

A traditional meeting of the main participants in organic farming in the Czech Republic with politicians and the media

Biosummit is a prestigious conference where everyone involved in organic farming and organic food sales, both from CZ and abroad, can meet in discussion. The aim of the Conference is to link the key personalities among farmers, politicians, businesspeople and agricultural interest groups and professional organizations of researchers, media representatives and the public.

Main topics:

Central European Cooperation in Organic Agriculture

Can we take advantage of the potential offered by Organic Agriculture to protect soil, water and shaping the landscape? Is Organic Agriculture able to produce enough food? What is its role and offer to addressing the current issues of European agriculture?

Program:

New challenges of OA
Main barriers and opportunities for development of OA
Cooperation in research and consulting
Good practice examples
Organic farming and its production potential

International conference
BIOSUMMIT 2015September 2-3, 2015Ministry of Agriculture, Prague
number of participants: 247

Biosummit is a prestigious conference where everyone involved in organic farming and organic food sales, both in CZ and abroad, can meet in discussion. The aim of the Conference is to link the key personalities among politicians, businesspeople and agricultural interest groups and highlight the role that should be played by the field of organic farming and organic food production within the new Common Agricultural Policy. All participants should focus on issues relating to the quality of organic products, the significance of organic farming for rural development and protection of the environment, and the role of organic farming in the new EU Common Agricultural Policy. Discussion will also focus on the issues of food quality, food security, relationship to the environment, or the issue of subsidizing organic farmers. BIOSUMMIT will be the main Prague part of “Organic Food Month”, held by the MoA.

Conference topics:

How does organic farming contribute to protection of soil?Organic is no Luxury, Organic is a Chance, Organic is Normal…

The main topic of Biosummit 2015 was Soil as the Basis for Human Nutrition with an emphasis on the fact that organic farming provides a practical and sustainable solution to numerous problems relating to soil degradation. The second part of the Conference included a discussion with an “Organic is no Luxury” motto, presenting several successful and practical projects.

The conference offered an exchange of experiences and opinions among key persons including politicians, businessmen, agricultural and non-profit organizations, and opened questions of the quality of organic products, the importance of organic farming for the development of rural areas and, the role of organic farming in new Common EU Agricultural Policy. Besides this discussion, speakers focused on disproval of myths and inaccuracies appearing in media in connection with organic farming.

Main speakers included the Vice Chair of The Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic Mrs. Vlasta Parkanová, Minister of Agriculture of the Czech Republic Mr. Petr Bendl, Deputy Minister of Environment Mr. Tomáš Tesař, and further Mr. Bořivoj Šarapatka (Czech Parliamentary Sub-committee for the protection of nature and landscape), Carlo Leifert (University of Newcastle), Karin Stein-Bachinger (ZALF Germany), Jiří Urban (ÚKZÚZ, ČTPEZ), Jana Hajšlová (ICT Prague), Ctirad Hemelík (Felicius company); professional organizations have been represented by Zdeněk Perlinger (PRO-BIO organic farmers association), Miroslav Toman (Federation of the Food and Drink Industries of the Czech Republic), Martin Fantyš (the Agrarian Chamber ČR); the invitation has been accepted also by managers of successful organic food producers – Stefan Hipp on behalf of the producer of child bio-food and Johannes Gutmann on behalf of the producer of organic products Sonnentor.

All together 162 participants from nine countries (CZ, PL, UKR, HU, RU, GB, AT, ALB, GER) registered in the Biosummit. The biggest group of researchers (almost 30 persons) arrived from Poland thanks to the Center Doradztwa Rolniczego w Brwinowie, which organized a group tour supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of Poland. Passive auditorium included not only representatives of professional organizations and research institutes and universities, but also participants from companies, businesses and state administration.